This invention relates to fencing material and brackets or similar structures, particularly those which are used to confine livestock.
In the past, wooden planks or barbed wire have been widely used to confine livestock such as common farm animals, steers and even thoroughbred race horses.
The fencing material that has been most widely used due to its low cost of installation and upkeep in barbed wire. However, barbed wire suffers from the disadvantage that it can cause painful and unsightly injury to valuable livestock, particularly when the stock becomes agitated or disturbed which frequently happens as during a summer storm or in the event predators penetrate the area in which the live stock are confined. All too frequently, animals in an agitated state are unable to detect the presence of the barbed wire, particularly in poor light conditions and this has often resulted in severe injury to valuable livestock. In addition barbed wire lacks the aesthetic appeal of other types of fence. While other types of fencing material have been employed such as cyclone wire fencing, this is substantially more expensive to install and maintain and can over a period of time result in the same difficulties with respect to damage to livestock as is the case with barbed wire.
In maintaining certain types of livestock, such as thoroughbred race horses, or animals of similar value, entirely wooden fences have been employed which, while pleasing to the eye and relatively safe to the animal, are expensive to install and maintain.
In confronting the foregoing difficulties, the prior art has resorted to the use of metals and plastic to form fencing material such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,140 and such fencing material would appear to satisfy many needs for the livestock industry where no particular strength or great spans of area need to be enclosed.
The present invention is an improvement on the fencing construction and bracket of U.S. application Ser. No. 443,885, filed Nov. 23, 1982, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,263 the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. That application discloses an improved fencing material and bracket which has been very successful in reducing installation and maintenance costs as well as preventing injury to livestock in corrals enclosed by such fencing material.
The present invention relates to an improvement in the bracket structure and cross-sectional shape of the fencing material which enable installation of the fencing material to be effected more rapidly where the bracket of the present invention is employed and also loss of the bracket elements will be prevented in the event that an individual bracket or brackets become separated from a fence post on which they were initially installed.
In addition, the fence bracket of the present invention is formed with recess surfaces having raised portions which are rounded in shape, both transversely and longitudinally of the bracket to minimize wear on the fencing material such as will occur when animals repeatedly come into contact with the fencing material and which will also permit suspending the fencing material over uneven terrain without imposing undue strains on the fencing material or the brackets themselves while maintaining the pleasing and orderly appearance of the plastic fencing material.
In a preferred embodiment, the bracket of the present invention will comprise two members which, at either end, are provided with interlocking means so that when the bracket is installed on a fence post with the fence material disposed between the two bracket elements as in the aforesaid application, the bracket elements will be interlocked so that in the event the bracket becomes loose or dislodged from a fence after a period of use, the individual bracket elements will remain secured together on the plastic fence material. Thus, a worker need merely periodically inspect the fence and where a bracket has become displaced or loosened, he need merely renail or screw the interlocked brackets again to the fence post. Thus, the necessity of replacing a lost bracket element will be eliminated which can be very troublesome in a livestock environment or in a grassy environment such as for horses where mowers periodically are employed to cut the grass.
In addition, a new form of roller bracket for corner installations is provided which, as in the previous application, mentioned above, will eliminate the necessity of using fasteners directly through the plastic fencing material and which will accurately guide a length of fencing material around a corner of a fenced enclosure without distorting the plastic fencing material and thus detracting from the overall appearance of the fencing.